1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to Internet access user interfaces which facilitate access to the Internet from a client or local device.
2. Description of Related Art
Online services today offer a variety of services to their users. Users may access news, weather, financial, sports, and entertainment services, participate in and retrieve information from online discussion groups, and send and receive email. A user of an online service typically accesses the service using specialized communication software (i.e., client application or client software) that establishes and manages a connection or session from the user's computer (or client) to the online service provider's host computers (or servers) and facilitates the user's interactions with the service.
In addition, there is provided software to display pages or screens relating to retrieved content according to views or presentations specific to the online service. This software may be integrated with the client application. The functionality of the content, and the user interface (i.e., icons, dialog boxes, menus, etc.) for interacting with the content, are typically dictated by various standards.
Interactions between the user's computer and the online service are facilitated by a variety of software protocols (i.e., communication conventions, rules and structures), including application level protocols, for managing the transfer of data across the network and to the client application on the user's computer. A protocol may be proprietary or exclusive to an online service such that only client software from the online service provider may be used to communicate with the server software. For example, an online service provider that supports electronic mail, discussion groups, chat groups, news services, etc. may define and use specific protocols for each type of service so that appropriate information is exchanged between the participants (i.e., clients and servers). Each application-specific protocol may be based on a common, underlying protocol.
The Internet and World Wide Web (“Web”), comprised of a vast array of international computer networks, may provide online service users with considerable information resources and other content. Typically, this content is accessed using a web browser, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator, capable of understanding the HyperText Markup Language (HTML) used to create the documents found on the Web and the HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) used to navigate the Web. Email and Usenet discussion groups are typically accessed through companion software to the browser. Although web browsers typically have varying levels of functionality or sophistication, retrieved content is displayed in content pages according to views or presentations specific to the web document currently presented by the web browser. Typically, the views and presentations are different than those provided by the communication software from the online service provider because the web browser is, in fact, a separate client application displaying web documents containing presentation directives.
When using a browser, the browser issues HTTP messages to request web pages. A requested web page is typically identified using its URL—uniform resource locator. The URL is a reference (or address) to a resource available on a TCP/IP network such as the Internet. A URL is composed of a character string, and may have a number of parts. These parts include a top level domain name, second level domain name, directory name, and file name. URLs may identify a file located on a web server. URLs may also point to other resources on the network such as database queries and command output. The determination and use of URLs is well-known in the art.
There are a number of types of online service providers (OSPs). Online services may serve the general public or may serve a limited class of individuals. Some public OSPs utilize proprietary networks; America Online and @Home are examples. Other public OSPs use the public networks, and most Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are an example. OSPs often provide Internet access. Internet access is the primary service provided by some OSPs, most notably ISPs.
Users typically connect to an OSP using a computer with a communications device such as an analog modem, an Ethernet adapter, DSL adapter or cable modem. Such connections may be analog or digital, dial-up or constantly-connected. Subscribers typically pay a fee for their subscriptions to OSPs. These fees typically are in the form of a sign-up fee, plus online charges which are fixed (i.e., unlimited monthly access for a fixed fee) or based upon the amount of time the user is connected to the online service.
The portion of the client application that facilitates interactions between the client and server includes user interface drivers. The drivers manage the presentation of the user interface at the client, and also the processing of data entered through the user interface or received by the client application for use in connection with the user interface. The software is typically provided to users by OSPs on disk, CD-ROM, or as a download from the Internet. The users then load the software onto their local device, and configure the software to enable proper and efficient Internet access through the OSP. The user interface then remains unchanged unless the user loads an upgraded version of the Internet access software provided by the OSP.
Upgraded versions typically include new program objects (the visual elements of the user interface) and new program resources (functions) associated therewith. However, upgrading to a totally new version of Internet access software typically presents many potential problems. For example, if performed over a dial-up connection, the amount of time required can be quite substantial, and the process is prone to errors due to communications failures. Even if performed in another manner, it is typically not practical to upgrade on a frequent basis, due to overhead costs and the required manual participation of consumers.
Accordingly, there exists a need for an Internet access user interface which can be updated on a frequent basis without requiring a significant amount of time or user participation, in which the visual representation of the interface (including the program objects) and the associated functions (including the program resources) can be customized to an individual user and automatically updated during an Internet session.